My life started as a single speck.
9140 Harrison Drive
Springfield, Texas.
West of 9140
lies the brown brick building of Birkes Elementary.
The carefree nature of my youth.
Here I swung from my calloused hands
on the monkey bars.
I dared Hannah to breach the hill and near the fence.
East of 9140
The intersection of Telge and West Road
is the Chevron I went to for cherry Icees
Wednesdays, when school let out.
The dry cleaners where I dropped off my mom’s
silk, polyester, chiffon, and linen clothes
to get professionally cleaned.
And at the end of the line was the
“go to” family restaurant Husky’s.
Fixed to the wall was the menu
above a floor sticky with spilt soda,
and an arcade in the back for the kids
with Dance Dance Revolution and Pinball.
Gone now, are Husky’s burgers and sticky soda floors.
Replaced by Verna Mae’s po-boys and seafood.
Revamped with dining room seating
and dazzling light fixtures.
The hushpuppies keep me going.
North of 9140
At Telge and Freeway Access Road
stood a gas station. A dying Chevron turn
shiny new Swift station, but the “w” missing.
Opposite the station was the rail yard
that housed the freight trains.
I heard them every morning.
I pass my childhood constellations
and teenage stars, reaching out
toward the next glinting speck. Adulthood.
Now in college, I am an astronaut
that can’t see my future in the constellations
Their light has not reached me yet, but in time it shall.